Bill Crane, just out of high school and eager for a job, goes on a June fishing trip with his friend, Ducky Davis, to a lake in the Maine wilderness. More important than the bass they catch is the discovery of a Caterpillar D2 Tractor sunk and abandoned in the lake. How Bill locates the owner and buys the machine, how he and Ducky get it out of the water and make it run, is a tale that will thrill every mechanically minded boy.

Of still broader interest is the story of Bill’s plucky battle to build a contracting business from that modest start. He makes enemies, but he makes loyal friends as well. Willing to tackle any job with his little bulldozer, he clears orchards, digs cellars, moves buildings, plows fields, skids logs, and fights forest fires. Finally, in an exciting climax, he wins an important earth-moving contract against strong and unscrupulous competition.

This is a story of a sturdy machine and a boy with courage, ingenuity, and grit. It could happen in few places on earth except America. Softcover, 239 pages.

Bat, The Story Of A Bull Terrier. Stephen Meader's large and enthusiastic audience can give an extra cheer for his new book, for it has an "extra added attraction." It's the first dog story he has written, and it's first-rate. It is the dramatic and moving tale of a courageous bull terrier. Bat's luxurious life as a pet and valuable show dog might not have seemed a good preparation for the hardships that overtook him when he was stolen. But his fine instincts and courage came to his own rescue. Young people will thrill to the exciting plot and fine characterization, and dog lovers of all ages will find Bat an irresistible hero.

In the year 1812, Jeff Robbins, a Maine boy, shipped before the mast on a cargo schooner bound for Cuba. His ship was overhauled by a British frigate, and Jeff, with some of the other men, was impressed for service aboard the British vessel.

He learned the endless duties of a sailor in the British Navy and took part in several exciting sea battles with the French. When war was declared between the United States and England, Jeff and the other Americans were treated as prisoners. He and a friend escaped when the Albatross put in for water at an uninhabited Caribbean island. What they found there and how they were rescued brings this exciting tale of adventure on sea and land to its conclusion.

Life aboard a Confederate blockade runner was dangerous, exciting, and if one survived it, profitable. To Anse O'Neal, a seventeen-year-old from Oracoke Island off North Carolina, it meant even more. It was gratifying to know that the rifles, powder, and medicines carried back from Bermuda in exchange for the South's cotton helped the Confederacy, and it gave Anse the opportunity to serve under Captain Ransome Tracy, whose audacity in running the blockade out of the Cape Fear River had won praise from Jefferson Davis. This story, based on actual experiences of the time, describes some of the Gray Witch's hairbreadth escapes she made voyage after dangerous voyage to bring back arms and supplies for Lee's hard-pressed army.

Like so many of Mr. Meader's books, Phantom Of The Blockade is packed with action and suspense. Told with all the skill and accuracy of an expert in the field of historical fiction, this tale of daring in the face of approaching defeat is sound history as well thrilling reading.

With thirty highly successful books to his credit, Stephen W. Meader, one of the most noted and popular writers of books for young people, has covered many aspects of American life, both modern and historical. Now in Sabre Pilot, he adds a new dimension---the air.

Seventeen-year-old Kirk Owen turns from hot-rod racing to enlist in the Air Force, just as the Korean fighting starts. At A&E school in Texas, Kirk begins to realize that he'd give anything for a chance to become a pilot. With a lot of extra study, he is able to complete his second year of college credits, left unfinished when his father had a heart attack, and he qualifies as an Aviation Cadet and wins his wings. Advance training as a jet fighter pilot follows, and under accelerated wartime conditions, he is sent to Korea at once where, through grim but exciting missions he becomes a full-fledged jet "tiger."

The background of this fast moving story is as authentic as Air Force cooperation and the author's own research can make it. For young men who are looking ahead to military service it will be a rewarding book. But more than that, Sabre Pilot is a book that everyone who is interested n flying, and anyone who is looking for a dramatic and action-packed narrative will welcome and enjoy.

T-Model Tommy. Here is a story set in the world of today, where the most intense interest of every boy approaching manhood is the problem of how he is going to earn his living. Red-headed Tom Ballard started off with no capital except his ancient T-Model Ford truck and built up a thriving business by his own efforts. Among the difficulties he had to overcome were the hazards of confronting the truck driver, perils of stormy weather and the danger of attack from hijackers. Tom found himself involved in adventures that took all his courage to surmount. But the battle he waged to get his business started and keep it going will interest boys as much, and will give them a great deal to think about. Mr. Meader's familiar skill at handling plot and character shines with particular brilliance against the sober background of real existence.

Not only an adventure story packed with thrills, this is also a book about railroads that will appeal to all railroad fans.

Through Calico Gap, one of the passes to the West through the Appalachian wall, runs a four-track rail artery, an important military objective for enemy sabotage. Randy MacDougal, youngest son in a family of railroaders, stumbled on the clues leading to such an attempt, followed them through with the aid of the railroad detective and the FBI, and averted a catastrophe endangering war transportation.

"Mr. Meader has succeeded not only in telling a good story but in conveying the stirring quality of railroads and railroading, that quality which, as he says, 'makes every man and boy breathe quicker at the sight and sound of a big locomotive storming down the rails.'"---New York Times.

Whaler 'Round The Horn. Rodney Glenn, like many other New England boys a hundred years ago, had set his heart on being a whaler. When the chance came, he shipped out of New Bedford on the Pelican, under Captain Jonas Beale. Captain Beale had the reputation of being a lucky skipper and he needed all the luck and skill he possessed when the Pelican encountered terrible seas and storms rounding Cape Horn. The ship won through, and by the time she reached Honolulu, Rod was a well-seasoned hand. A brief shore leave left him with happy memories, particularly of Mahina Rea, the daughter of a Scots shipbuilder and his Hawaiian wife. Shortly after the Pelican put to sea again, their luck changed. The whaleboat in which Rod was stationed was destroyed like matchwood by a killer whale---and Rod found himself the only survivor, swimming frantically away from the horror he had seen. Hours later, clinging to the butt of the mast, Rod was washed ashore on an island where he was marooned for many weeks. A Hawaiian boy, who had come by chance to this inaccessible jungle valley, was is only companion. In these weeks, Rod learned much of the island lore, and when eventually they were able to return to civilization, Rod knew where his future lay. The thrill of whaling and the magic of the Pacific islands are combined in this book by a master storyteller.